Thursday, May 11, 2006

Good Morning  

 

Today's Reading:    Revelation 11:1- 6  --  Barclay  78 - 80 (two sections) 

 

-- Barclay's sections are short, so we have two -- one that mentions the length of time of the terror to come, and the other discusses the identify of the two witnesses.

 

-- the first part is about how long the terror will last, and the time 3.5 years keeps coming up, expressed in several different ways.  We will have some additional discussion about that, because there are some other references to 7 years and 3.5 years coming up.  For now, we need to remember that the two witnesses will testify for 3.5 years, and they will be essentially unstoppable during that period of time.

 

-- the second part of Barclay's commentary for today has to do with the identify of the two witnesses.  All of the options the names of those prophets and leaders who, in the Old Testament, were taken up into heaven.  Based on the scriptures, Barclay identifies Elijah and Moses as the most likely identies for these two witnesses.  The only thing that gives me pause about that is that the witnesses are killed at the end of their testimony, and that just seems odd to me that Moses and Elijah would be killed at that point -- after having been caught up into heaven without dying originally. But just as John the Baptist came prior to the coming of Christ, so to will these two witnessess come prior to final trumpet.

 

-- going back to the section on time, and the fact that 3.5 years is the increment of time for the witnesses -- there is something meaningful in the idea that the time is half of 7, which is a number that keeps coming up in Revelation.  In addition, as Barclay mentions, there is precedent in the Old Testament for that period of time defining a difficult time -- 3.5 years refers to a very difficult time in the life of the Jewish people, during the reign of the Antiochus Epiphanes, King of Syria -- a time whose end is commemorated by the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. 

 

Today's Scripture 

 

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

Matthew 13:44

Today's prayer requests:    Christie Peebles

Need to remember her as she gets closer to her due date.

Today's class member prayer:

Matt Rocksvold 

Jay